A User-Friendly Application-based Design Aid Tool for Power Electronics Converters

Abstract

Power electronics and its related subjects are well-known difficult to understand especially for students taking them for first time. This is due to nature of the subjects which involve many areas and disciplines. The introduction of general-purpose simulation package has helped the student a step further in understanding this subject. However, because of the generality of these tools and their drag-and-drop and ad-hoc features, the students still face problems in designing a converter circuit. In this section, the problem above is addressed by introducing a design aid tool that guides the student over prescribed steps to design a power electronics circuit. The tool is interfaced with Pspice and its knowledge base encompasses two types of knowledge; topologies’ knowledge and switching devices’ knowledge. The first step in the design procedure is the selection of an application of the desired circuit. Then few steps are to be followed to come out with the appropriate topology with the optimum switching devices and parameters. System structure, its different modules and the detailed design procedure are explained in the following paragraphs. At the end a design example is demonstrated and its results are displayed and discussed. It is aimed that this tool will enhance the understanding of the subject by introducing an interactive user friendly graphical interface that guides the user to the right topology. The complex design steps are hidden for the sake of saving the design time. However, an explanation module is included for the users who want to know how the results are drawn.